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BERLIN — The Brexit referendum began a “mourning process” for Jane Golding that has prompted her to "rethink" her relationship with home.

A practicing lawyer, Golding describes herself as a "convinced European" and "EU native." But even after spending most of her working life in different European countries — Belgium, Italy and now the capital of Germany — she was proud to be British.

That pride has been tested by the feelings of disorientation and abandonment created by Brexit. She said she found the result "depressing."

“I've just taken all these rights and opportunities that I’ve had for granted," she said. "Suddenly, all those things have been pulled from under me and all of us.”

She is referring to the, at least, 1.2 million British nationals living across the EU27 at the time of the referendum — many of whom were not able to vote because they had lived outside the U.K. for more than 15 years.

Jane Golding speaks on the BBC in the summer of 2018 | Screenshot via British In Europe on YouTube

But the 53-year-old did not just shrug her shoulders and watch Brexit unfold. In January 2017, along with a few other fellow Brits, Golding founded British in Europe, a coalition representing U.K. citizens living across the bloc. Golding also chairs the British in Germany group. She has lived in Berlin since 2009, along with her German husband and children.

Her work for both groups helped give her some degree of stability in a frustrating and confusing situation. “Our sense was from the beginning we were stronger together,” she said, estimating the coalition has about 35,000 members across the bloc. Part of the group’s work consists of organizing events, running campaigns and mass lobbies in both the U.K. and EU countries.

“It has been useful for people actually to get together and talk about the issues, as everybody has a complex situation,” Golding said, describing those meetings as “one of the most positive things about it all.”

It also tackles what is sees as misinformation. When British TV host Piers Morgan declared on Twitter, for example, that he was "warming" to the idea of a no-deal Brexit, he got short shrift from British in Europe.

"Just which bit of that is warming you? Is it the pensioners not receiving their pensions, their health care being in doubt, our kids struggling, our businesses folding? Do let us know," they responded.

According to Golding, the group has received both support and disregard. Cross-party assistance came from the European Parliament, she said, and the group has held regular meetings with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier. Most national groups have met with their local governments.

In the U.K., British in Europe has engaged with government and parliament including giving oral evidence twice before MPs on the committee that scrutinizes the Department for Exiting the EU. The group also met with then junior DExEU minister David Jones — but not with Prime Minister Theresa May or any of the three secretaries of state the department has had so far.

Had senior government officials had more engagement with the group, Golding said, “they would have understood better.”

“Now there's a third [Brexit secretary], let's see if he wants to meet us,” she added, referring to Stephen Barclay who was promoted when Dominic Raab resigned last month.

One point of misunderstanding that Golding points to is over freedom of movement, which is often cast in a negative light in the U.K. but is essential to the daily lives of many of the people her group represents because it is “such a mobile population.”

Another misconception is who the British expats living across the EU27 actually are, with most assuming they are made up largely of pensioners in Spain.

“In fact, the opposite is true,” Golding said. “The vast majority of us, nearly 80 percent, are working age and younger, and there are around 20 percent pensioners.”

Golding said that the deal negotiated between London and Brussels is "a step in the right direction" because it would rule out a no-deal Brexit ("a disaster," says Golding). But it leaves many issues open and means a curtailing of rights for U.K. citizens across the Continent.

Post Brexit, the focus of British in Europe will likely change to more work on national levels across the remaining EU member countries, Golding said. “Probably, there is still going to be a big need for information for people. The organization will evolve and change, but it will not be its end.”